GREEN MAKES PRESENCE KNOWN IN
BOISEHSMS
Gears Up for 2008 Points Championship Final

Boise, ID
- August 08-10, 2008: Troy Green and the High Speed Motorsports - SilverThin
Bearings Top Fuel team came into the 37th Boise Nightfire Nationals
leading the 2008 NHRA Hot
Rod Heritage Racing Series Top Fuel Points by a slim margin.
They left Boise in 2nd place by yet another slim margin. By losing
a very close second round race against Jim Murphy, Green relinquished
the lead to Brad Thompson who was the event runner-up. Event
winner, Murphy vaulted into third place just 3 points behind
Green. What does all this mean with one race left?

Well, it means
that the California Hot Rod Reunion in Bakersfield on October
10-12 will be a vicious three way dog fight for the 2008 Top
Fuel championship. Should Brad Thompson, who crashed and was
injured at Boise, be unable to compete the whole deal will boil
down to which driver, Green or Murphy, goes one round further
than the other. High drama for sure.

Crew chief Brett
Johansen, Tom Shelar and the rest of the team will spend the
next 7 weeks focused on preparing the car for the final showdown.
Says Johansen, "We're as serious as a heart attack about
this one. Murphy is on the top of his game and we will have to
be one step better."

As for Boise,
it was overall a good outing with Green carding a best of 5.816
at 243.77 in his first round win over Jason Richey.

photos
and race results below

This annual event at Boise is
different than most in that the majority of the featured action
happens in the evening into the night. With the first qualifying
session not scheduled until 7 PM, the teams have the luxury of
doing things in the morning (like having a real breakfast or
playing a round of golf) and getting to the track at 2 PM.

Throughout the afternoon the
fans came by the pit and the kids were offered a chance to sit
in the car - what a thrill.

Arlene Eliason is in charge of
the HSMS hospitality area and there is always goodies on hand
to eat and drink.

Laid back indeed.

Steve Gibbs and Dan Richens were
among the visitors over the weekend.

About 6 PM the car was
warmed up in preparation of the first session.

Before going to the lanes,
the team had their customary pep rally.

First call for Top Fuel...
the car is headed for the staging lanes.

Top Fuel Qualifying
- Session One

8:11 p.m. A late start for the festivities but the day time was
taken up with a bracket race that paid some serious change to
win. The Pepsi NightFire Nationals are a lot more than Top Fuel
and Funny car. There are bracket races all four days of the event
and today they staff of the raceway had to play catch up as the
final three rounds got 'winded out' yesterday evening.

In session two Green was on a
single so every camera in the place was focused on "Great
White".

Green started his backup
way up track of Stevens.

Walt picked him up and
guided him home.

Johansen and understudy Sean
Bellemeur make final tweaks to the engine.

Green had a great 1.022 60ft
time followed by sever tire shake and smoke at about 200ft. After
losing his bearings Green wisely shut it off.

The tires were really
working hard right from the hit.

On this shot you can
see air under the right tire - not a good thing.

After the aborted run, the pits
got back into laid back mode. Danny Porche and Steve Gibbs settled
in the shade to watch the Olympics.

Dale Singh spent some
time with Bakersfield Raceway's Bill Bowser.

Tom Shelar did his normal
cylinder head services.

Brett Johansen looked over the
data from the computer to figure out why the car shook so violently
and make sure it didn't do it again.

Blake Bowser and and Bakersfield
Starter, Bill Condit spent some time with Sean Bellemeur and
other members of the crew.

Walt Stevens gapped spark plugs
(the hardest thing he wants to do these days).

What has become a welcome tradition
for the drivers and fans at the Nightfires is the Saturday afternoon
autograph session. This year some of the Funny Car shoes joined
the Top Fuel guys, including Troy Green, to sit in 90 degree
sun to sign everything from their handouts to T-shirts.

There was a slight delay from
the previous pair so the team had to cool their heels in the
water box waiting for the signal to fire.

Johansen checked out
the lanes.

This session paired the #1 and
#2 drivers in the points standings - Troy Green and Brad Thompson.

It's no secret that both these
cars tend to be very aggressive on their tune ups and they both
may have gone just a little over centered on this track - this
night.

Thompson was all over the left
lane and just about got sideways around half track. Green had
to give the pedal at least one slap and spent some time wandering
the right lane as well. In spite of his long trip, Green did
improve with a 5.999 at 227.38. Thompson's 6.350 at 180.90 was
no help.

Sunday - with the first round
scheduled for 2 PM it was another no panic morning.

Clutch specialist Todd Shappie
has all the tools to service the discs between rounds.

The last of Kathy Kaplan's
"Killer Salsa" was devoured before first round.

Bellemeur
figured out what to do with the empty bowl.

The car is again warmed up about
an hour before the call for round one of eliminations.

Its hard to excite old
Walter anymore.

Works for me!

Prior to the first round of eliminations
six of the elite seven members of the Top Fuel 260 MPH Club were
recognized. From L to R: Jason Richey, Jack Harris, Brett Harris,
Don Ewald (for sponsor WDIFL.com), Brad Thompson, Troy Green
and Adam Sorokin. Missing was Pete Kaiser.260
MPH CLUB